A Home Worth Being At
by bearhead
Summary: Daryl and Carol live in the same town, but come from two very different backgrounds. An unexpected late night encounter leaves them with no other option than to start a fragile friendship; from there they are left to try and figure each other out as their relationship evolves. Slow burn, multi-chapter Caryl fic! Teenage Caryl AU! Caryl on!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys! I'm attempting my first multi-chapter Walking Dead fic! **

**This is going to be a slow burn, Caryl, high-school AU fic. No zombies, just two kids from very different backgrounds struggling in this relationship they have somehow managed to form. If that made it sound boring then I'm hoping it won't be, I suck at summaries so feel free to stick around and see for yourself if you like where it's going!**

**Enjoy and Caryl on!**

* * *

"Ed, I don't really like it here, do you think we could go back to the car?" Carol asked, gripping tighter to her boyfriend's hand as her other hand snaked into her purse, wrapping safely around the can of pepper spray her dad made her keep there.

"Oh c'mon Carol, don't be such a pussy. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." Ed Peleteir replied with a sneer, ignoring Carol's wince as he tightened his grip on her hand so he could yank her arm sharply when she slowed to inspect a bum sleeping under a tree nearby.

Carol glared at Ed hard until he rolled his eyes and loosened his grip slightly. She didn't like the way he was controlling her. When they had first started dating he had been all sweet touches and grand gestures of affection, but lately he had replaced those acts with harsh words and an oppressive demeanor. Carol was tired of making excuses for his behavior, one more wrong move and they were done.

"Please Ed, I really don't feel safe here, maybe we could go see a movie instead?" She tried again, sweetly.

The smile was wiped off her face when Ed spun around suddenly, grabbing her upper arms in a bruising grip and glaring at her accusingly.

"You don't think I can protect you? Is that it, you stupid bitch?" He spat, causing Carol to flinch. "Well fucking fine then. If that's what you're thinking then you don't deserve my fucking protection. I'm Ed fucking Peletier, I don't need to waste my time on an ungrateful, ugly whore like you anyways!"

Carol felt as if she'd been slapped. He had never talked to her that way before, nor hurt her that badly. As Ed stormed away she tried to ignore the throbbing of her arms and the sting of tears in her eyes, instead searching for an alternate way home when it became apparent that he was going to leave her here in the middle of the night.

Some loud laughter from a nearby alley had her swallowing hard. There was no way she could walk home, not at this time of night, not in this neighborhood. The parking lot was empty save for Ed's car, and the laughter had turned to wolf whistles. The realization that the guy under the tree had vanished was the last straw, he could be anywhere and Carol did not want to be the one to find him. Unfortunately Ed was turning out to be her best option; she just needed to get him to take her home and then she would never talk to him again.

"Ed!" She squeaked, running after him. "Don't leave! I need your help!"

She had just caught up to him when he turned around suddenly. Carol was so distracted by the look of pure disgust he wore, she never saw the hand heading for her face.

Carol heard the noise before she felt the pain, her brain not registering what had just occurred. Her instincts had her stumbling backwards, falling to the ground to get away from the blow. She couldn't believe he had done that.

The tears came immediately as she looked up at him with hurt, betrayed eyes, her mouth, opening and closing, no words coming

"Of course you need my fucking help you useless whore!" Ed spat at her, "You better find a ride home quick because you're sure as hell not coming with me!"

The tears were running freely down Carol's face as she continued to gape at him from her position on the ground.

"What, are just just gonna sit there and cry about it you pussy? I'll slap those tears right off your ugly face!"

Carol scrambled backwards as best she could as Ed took a violent step towards her, his hand raised.

"HEY" someone shouted, the voice sounding like an angry growl "LEAVE HER THE FUCK ALONE"

Carol and Ed both spun around to see the tree guy storming towards them; his face was shadowed by his hood, but his fists were visibly clenched in fury.

"I can do whatever the hell I want to her," Ed replied, "she's my fucking girlfriend!" To emphasize his point, the quarterback grabbed Carol by the wrist; yanking her up hard enough that she stumbled into him as she tried to find her footing. Ed took advantage of her proximity, crushing his mouth to hers, his hand bruising the back of her neck as he forced her lips to stay connected to his. Carol struggled wildly, trying to lash out with her arms and shove him away but his grip was a vice keeping her pinned to him. Her attempts grew weaker even as his tongue invaded her mouth. She was preparing herself for one last desperate fight when Ed was yanked backwards hard and Carol felt herself falling.

Her collision with the ground might had hurt if she hadn't been so distracted. She watched in fear and awe as the slightly taller, but much skinnier stranger threw Ed down by the back of his letterman's jacket, not giving the quarterback any time to recover before he was on top of him, one knee digging hard into Ed's chest, the other grinding his hand into the ground. The man twisted a fist solidly in the front of the Ed's collar, using the grip to haul Ed slightly off the ground before slamming him back down with a fist to the face.

"I said leave her the fuck alone." Carol's savior growled, his voice low and menacing. Ed was stupid enough to look like he might fight back, but the stranger got up in Ed's face. "Do you understand wha' I fucking just said?" he demanded, a thick drawl emphasizing his anger.

Carol watched a flash of recognition pass across Ed's features before he nodded hurriedly and shoved his way out of the taller man's loosening grip. Ed got up with little grace quickly retreating steps to a safe distance away before turning to have the last word.

"Have fun getting home you stupid worthless bitch, it's so appropriate that your rescuer would be the only person alive more worthless than you!"

Carol followed Ed's retreat for a few seconds, trying to hold back another round of tears. Once she had herself under control she stood up slowly, focusing warily on the stranger standing a few feet in front of her. He shuffled uncomfortably as her gaze turned to him; Carol tried to meet his gaze, but he kept his trained pointedly on his feet. After a few seconds of silence his hand flew to his mouth and he started ripping at the skin on the edge of his thumbnail.

When the man finally looked up it was a quick, jerky movement and Carol was surprised to see bright blue eyes connect with hers as he stared at her almost defiantly. In the darkness she could just barely make out long strands of sandy blond hair falling into his face, partially obscuring the mark of a fading black eye. Her eyes drifted down his face to a matching bruise on his jawline and Carol realized that he was not a man like she thought, he looked like he couldn't possibly be much older than she was, if was even older at all. His perpetual scowl and intimidating presence could not hide how young he really was.

Carol realized that she had definitely been staring, and quickly brought her eyes back up to meet his. His eyes narrowed as he looked back and Carol couldn't tell if he was confused or angry.

"Ya alrigh'?" He asked, his voice almost unintelligibly low as his gaze quickly dropped back to his boots, his teeth still ripping at the edge of his thumb.

Carol's voice cracked with uncertainty as she replied.

"I-I think so..."

The boy gave a nod to the ground, his eyes flicking back up briefly.

"He hit you hard?" His tone mostly flat, but Carol swore she heard a hint of concern in the words.

"No, not really" Carol answered after assessing the pain in her cheek. "I was more surprised than anything else, he's never done anything like that before"

The boy gave a noncommittal grunt and Carol decided that she had no idea how to speak his language.

"Shouldn'ta hit you at all." He bit back with conviction.

Carol agreed wholeheartedly but she desperately wanted to change the subject.

"What's your name?" She asked softly, taking a step towards him, stopping when he tensed.

It was silent for a few moments and Carol wondered if she could have possibly overstepped her boundaries with such a simple question.

"Daryl." He answered eventually in a curt tone.

"Daryl what?" She implored, the name sounding vaguely familiar. Which wasn't unusual, everybody knew each other in their small town.

"Jus'...Daryl" he replied, his tone final. Carol didn't bother to push, figuring she owed him the space after he completely rescued her from her suddenly abusive boyfriend.

"I'm Carol." she offered, trying to sound light. His gaze flicked up to hers again and she offered him a soft smile, ignoring the way it pulled at her smarting cheek. Daryl gave another grunt and a nod before turning and looking around the deserted area.

Ed must have left long ago Carol decided as she glanced toward the empty parking lot, wondering how she was possible going to get home. It seemed however, that Daryl had read her mind, or had followed her worried gaze to the empty lot.

"Ya need a ride...Carol?" He asked hesitantly. A corner of Carol's mouth quirked up at his use of her name while she nodded shyly.

"Yeah..." She was slightly embarrassed. "I have no idea how I'm gonna get home."

"I can give you a ride if'n you want" he offered shyly, blushing as she shot him a confused expression.

"You have a car?" Carol asked, surprised, she didn't know much about homeless people, but she didn't think the ones sleeping outside under trees would own cars.

"Yeah?" Daryl replied like it was obvious. "Well...somethin' like that"

"Oh!" Carol let her surprise show in her voice. "It's just, I didn't think many homeless people had cars!"

At Daryl's completely confused expression Carol felt herself blush, she had obviously just made some very wrong assumptions.

"I ain't fuckin' homeless." Daryl replied slowly, defensively, his eyes narrowing as his fists opened and closed at his side.

Carol felt as if she just shoved her entire foot in her mouth, her already red face flushed entirely with her embarrassment, as she sputtered for an apology.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to assume! It's just-I... Well you were sleeping under that tree and well you look-" Carol cut off as Daryl's eyes narrowed even more, his fists staying clenched and lifting slightly.

"No!" Carol tried to amend, "I didn't mean-I'm so sorry! I just-" she clicked her mouth shut, taking a deep, calming breath through her nose.

"It's just-why were you sleeping outside under a tree, if you have a home you could go to?"

"Just cause I have a house don't make it fucking worth being at." He snarled, then instantly looked like he regretted saying anything at all. A thousand follow-up questions ran through Carol's head, but she let it go as Daryl's expression instantly closed off and he angled his body away from her. So instead she gave a nod like she understood, and Daryl seemed to accept it. He turned without a word and started walking towards the parking lot.

Carol hesitated for half a second before scrambling after him, she didn't know who he was, or anything about him, but Carol reckoned he'd had plenty of opportunities to hurt her and all he had even attempted to do was help; so she followed him to the parking lot, hoping she was making the right decision

Their approach revealed a motorcycle in the shadows that Carol hadn't seen earlier, its black and silver exterior shining dimly in the moonlight.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Carol exclaimed, her shock stopping her movements. She was even more surprised to see a look of amusement briefly flash across Daryl's normally stoic face as he cast a glance back to her.

"Is that your bike?" She asked in awe.

"My brother's" he mumbled. "He don't ever lemme touch it, but tonight he was uh...incapacitated, so's I took it"

Carol wanted to laugh at the guilty smirk that crossed Daryl's face as he ran his hand lovingly over the cool metal. Gripping the handlebars he straddled the bike with a grace Carol had to admire before turning his head to look at her.

"Ya comin?"

Carol completely ignored all the lectures her dad had given her about getting on motorcycles with boys, as she threw her leg over the seat and settled down behind him with far less grace than he had displayed.

"Ya ever been on a bike afore?"

Carol shook her head no as she timidly gripped Daryl's sides.

He nodded like that was the answer he expected.

"Ain't nothing hard bout it, jus' make sure ya lean into the turns with me. Don't lean too far and sure as hell don't lean the opposite way or I'm liable to crash us." Carol thought that was probably the most words she had ever heard him speak as she quickly nodded her understanding.

"An' hold on tight!" Daryl commanded, kicking the bike into gear and revving the engine.

Carol did not feel inclined to argue as Daryl pushed the bike faster. She gripped his sides probably a little too tightly as she attempted to lean into the turn out of the parking lot.

* * *

"This it?" Daryl asked over his shoulder, as he pulled into the driveway of the house Carol had directed him to.

Carol nodded happily, clambering off the bike after Daryl cut the engine.

"You got a way in?" He asked, observing the empty house.

"Yup!" Carol pulled out a key in explanation. Daryl nodded and began walking the bike backwards, but Carol's exclamation stopped him.

"Daryl wait!" He looked to her impatiently, and she swallowed hard, for some reason she felt like crying.

"I never thanked you! I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you weren't there." She smiled at him timidly.

"It weren't nothing" he replied with a shrug, and Carol wanted to laugh at the absurdity of that statement.

"Do you wanna maybe grab a pizza or something some time? I can pay so I feel like I've given you a proper thank you."

"I don't need your fucking charity" Daryl snarled and Carol was visibly startled by how fast his attitude changed. "An you ain't gonna be seeing me after this. If you was smart, you'd be stayin' away from me anyways." Carol tried not to look as confused as she felt, how could he expect her to never want to see him again after what he had just gone through for her.

"What if I want to see you again?"

"Then you's pretty fucking stupid. Look I..." he paused, yanking his hood low over his face. "I ain't good ta be around."

Carol's heart clenched painfully for a reason she didn't completely understand. This boy confused the hell out of her.

She gave him a shrug and nodded, knowing that if he didn't think they should meet again then she wouldn't push him. But she still felt sad knowing that's how he felt.

He had the bike backed up into the street and was just about to start it when Carol stopped him a final time.

"Daryl?" The look he gave her now was nothing short of exasperated, but she ignored it, determined to let him know how grateful she was.

"Thank you." she whispered, putting as much sincerity into it as she possibly could.

Daryl huffed and shook his head, but Carol didn't miss the way a corner of Daryl's mouth flicked up in a small but honest smile, before he nodded his goodbye and sped away.

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**AN: There you go! I hope you liked it! I'm well aware that my writing is not great, so feel free to give me ways to improve both the story and my writing quality in a review or PM, I'd love to hear them!**

**Thanks for reading! Caryl On!**


	2. Chapter 2

Carol woke to the sound of sirens screaming down her street. She leapt out of bed and threw herself towards her window, pressing her face against the cool glass.

She watched anxiously as the police car pulled to a screeching halt in her driveway, the driver's door flying open as soon as it stopped. Carol wasted no time seeing who stepped out, she ran downstairs throwing the front door open. A gust of cold morning air stung her face as she watched the man's expression turn instantly from fear to relief as the sight of her.

"Dad!" Carol yelled, her confusion adding a tremor to the word. "What's wrong, why were you using the sirens?"

Thomas Mason didn't answer his daughter's question, choosing instead to sweep her into a crushing hug.

"Carol, thank god! I was so worried!"

"Dad?" Carol mumbled into her father's shirt, a pin from his uniform digging uncomfortably into her cheek. "What's go-"

"Are you alright?" her dad asked suddenly, an edge of panic in his voice. Pulling out of the hug, he held her at arm's length, his eyes dancing worriedly across her body, looking for any sign of harm.

"I'm fine. Dad! I'm fine!" Carol insisted, trying to break out of her father's tight grip. "Dad you're scaring me! What happened? What's going on?"

Thomas let out a big sigh, his hands clenching and unclenching once.

"Let's go inside, I'll tell you everything."

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Carol watched her dad with growing frustration as he flitted around the kitchen, calmly making himself a pot of coffee. It wasn't until he had his drink in front of him and fixed to his liking that he finally looked at Carol sitting across from him at the table.

"Ed's mom called us this morning." He began, Carol blinked in surprise, wondering where this was going. "She said that Ed had gotten home late last night when she was already asleep. When she saw him this morning he had a huge, purple bruise 'marring his perfect face'." Her father used little air quotes to emphasize the last part. Carol rolled her eyes at the comment, secretly pleased Daryl had hit him so hard.

"Of course she panicked, and demanded to know what had happened. Ed told her that you and he were walking around last night and you were attacked. He said the guy grabbed you and slapped you, punching Ed in the face when he tried to help you!"

Carol watched her dad's teeth clench in anger as his eyes focused on her cheek which she figured was probably still red and maybe even a little bruised. Carol felt her own anger rise for a different reason, silently cursing Ed for being such a lying piece of shit.

"Ed said that the punch knocked him out, and when he came to, you were gone." Thomas dropped his head to his hands, letting out a long, shaky sigh. "Carol I was so scared when I heard, I was sure that little shit hurt you or killed you. It was a goddamn Dixon for Christ's sake, who knows what he might have done to you!"

"It was what?" Carol asked, speaking for the first time. Her father looked at her like she was stupid for not knowing.

"A Dixon? Daryl Dixon. The guy who attacked you!"

A thousand puzzle pieces slammed into place for Carol at that moment. Daryl Dixon. No wonder he didn't want to tell her his last name. Carol had heard of the Dixons, of course she had, everybody in her town, and most the surrounding towns, had. Buck Dixon was a violent drunkard, known for bar fights and hate crimes. He was constantly being brought into her dad's station for one thing or another, sometimes locked up for the night, other times tossed into federal prison. From what Carol has heard, his oldest son Merle is no better. She remembers her dad telling her about him, how he's been in and out of juvie since he was 14. Between drugs, alcohol, fights, and theft, Merle had probably spent more of his 26 years in prison than out of it.

The last Dixon, Carol hadn't heard much about, his notorious family casting him into the shadows. She had heard her father mention him a couple times, but it always turned about to be a Merle horror story in which Daryl was caught in the crossfire.

Carol felt a deep sadness for the boy wash over her. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to grow up in an environment like that. He was quick to anger, violent, and had a mouth that could make a sailor blush, but he had saved her, stood up for her, his harsh words turning unsure and shy when he was engaged in a real conversation. He had helped her, with no hidden agenda or fine print, and that spoke more for his character than everything she had ever heard about him.

"Don't worry Carol," her dad said, misinterpreting the expression on her face as fear for Ed and her safety. "We have the bastard in a holding cell at the station. If we play our cards right, we could probably get him locked up in juvie for this!"

"Dad, no!" Carol yelled, slamming her hands on the table. She only felt a little guilty when her dad jumped in surprise. "You can't do that! This isn't right!"

"Carol!" Her dad called as she rushed out of the kitchen and up to her room, slamming her door behind her. Thomas chased after her, stopping to catch his breath in front of Carol's closed door.  
"Carol wha-" he was cut off as her door flew open again and Carol stormed out dressed in the first pieces of clothing she could find.

"I have to go to the station dad!" She explained as she grabbed her keys from their hook.

"Why? Carol, wait!" He exclaimed, exasperated, watching his daughter storm out of the house. Thomas groaned in frustration before following after her, but Carol was already backing down the driveway.

Cursing, he ran inside and collected his things, storming outside and jumping into his own car. He had no idea what had just happened but he knew he had to get to the station too. Besides, he didn't want his daughter anywhere near that Dixon piece of shit, even if he was behind bars.

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**AN: Look what I finally got around to updating! My Caryl feels are back and I'm ready to write! You guys might have to remind me to update though because honestly I'm terrible at it. **

**I'd look to hear what you think! And I will happily take ways to improve the story, my writing, or any ideas you have! Thank you so much for following, favoriting, and reviewing, I'm glad you enjoy my story!**

**Caryl on!**

**~bearhead**


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